Konoha High School Host Club
by WynterSky
Summary: Shy scholarship student Hinata becomes entangled with the glamorous Host Club. But these boys have secrets, and some of them might involve Hinata herself. Sort-of AU. Maybe some romance. Inspired by Ouran High School Host Club. (Uploaded an altered Chapter 4)
1. Chapter 1

[A/N: Okay, this is going to start out a little weird, but bear with me here, okay? Things will be revealed later. I didn't put this in crossovers because it doesn't properly cross over, it uses the setting of Ouran, characters of Naruto, and scenarios from both Ouran and Naruto.]

Chapter 1:

Hinata pressed against the wall as she crept down the corridor. There was no real reason for her to creep; it was broad daylight and she was completely within her rights to be where she was at the moment. However, she desperately wanted to be alone right now, and there were so many people that she was terrified someone would decide to talk to her. Hopefully they wouldn't. She didn't look like much right now; she wasn't even wearing a proper uniform.

While she had received a scholarship which had permitted her to attend this elite school, it had not included a uniform and she had been unable to save enough to afford one yet. She hadn't wanted to ask her family for money (it was a _very_ expensive uniform) so she had just worn her usual puffy purple jacket. No one had remarked on it, but she was sure that everyone noticed how different she looked.

Hinata did not actually dislike people, although most people thought she did. She actually had a couple very good friends and got along well with her adoptive family's extensive network of relatives. Despite this, she simply could not stand crowds of people milling about and talking. It was far too much for her to process, and if she had to interact with someone in a crowded situation her brain would shut down entirely.

That was her problem right now. She had been through half the school trying to find somewhere she could be in peace but there were students everywhere! She almost wanted to hate the wretched school, but that was hardly a kind thought.

Clutching her pile of books a little closer to her chest and bending her head so her bangs hid her eyes, Hinata headed toward a staircase that didn't have any people on it. By this point she didn't care whether she ended up in the janitor's room so long as there weren't any other people there.

At the top of the staircase was a corridor—deserted. Hinata sighed with relief and started to relax, pausing to look out of one of the expansive windows. Konoha High was the most luxurious place she had ever been in. Her family had a nice, modest little house, and she'd never felt deprived of anything, but this place was overwhelmingly grand. She'd gotten lost on the first day, which meant that she entered her history class late and everyone stared at her. After that she had hardly been able to concentrate.

Kiba and Shino were supposed to be in this school somewhere, too, but she hadn't been able to find them yet. There were so many students that even though she was in the same year as them it was no guarantee she would be in the same classes as them, and indeed she hadn't been. This was a far cry from their elementary school days in which they had been nearly inseparable. They had been playmates even before that; Hinata's mother had a photo on the fridge from when Hinata had been about five, playing in the mud with Shino and Kiba, who was so dirty he was almost unrecognizable.

Further along the blessedly empty corridor was a row of practice rooms for the music students. Hoping that she would be able to slip inside one and study (even though she wasn't taking any music classes), Hinata started to try the doors.

The first one was locked, and the second was as well. The door of the third music room, however, opened and Hinata entered gladly.

The first thing she noticed was the scent of roses in the air. The second thing was the conspicuous lack of anything resembling a musical instrument.

The third was the bevy of teenage boys clustered around an elegant settee in the center of the room.

"Welcome to the Konoha High Host Club!"

Hinata started, clinging to her books and backing up against the door which had already closed behind her. "Th-th-the what?"

This was supposed to be a place where no one else was, why did she have to end up in a situation like this?

One of the boys detached himself from the mysteriously sparkly group and swept over to her. "Welcome, my dear," he said with an extravagant bow, sweeping his sunny blond hair back with one hand as he stood. "We are delighted to welcome a new guest as always. Might I ask what you are wearing, and why? It does, of course, look charming, but we have come to expect a sort of uniform appearance from the young ladies who visit us…not, of course, that they are in any way interchangeable, but—"

Hinata was so flustered by this point that she barely understood one word in five. She knew what a host club was, but why would there be one in a school? What was the point? Why was this insanely good looking blond boy so close to her and why did she feel like his eyes were swallowing her up? Why did he have whisker marks on his perfectly tanned cheeks? "Um…I…I was…"

The blond boy was still talking. "What is your name, my dear?"

"F-Fujioka Hinata," Hinata whispered, barely able to get the words out.

The blond boy beamed. "The name is as beautiful as you yourself, Hinata-san. Now," he continued blithely, leading her toward the rest of the group, "on to business. What is your ideal? Is it the cool, reserved type?"

One of the boys behind the couch nodded to her as he adjusted his glasses, his dark, spiky ponytail shifting as he did so.

"The languid beauty?"

One of the two boys left on the couch gestured toward her, a small smile playing on his lips. His long dark hair spilled over the armrest but Hinata couldn't help staring at his strange eyes.

"The awkward but endearing type?"

The other boy behind the couch, a rather chubby ('big boned,' Hinata promptly told herself, she didn't want to offend anyone) boy with red hair and a gentle demeanor, smiled at her and Hinata smiled back before she could think about it.

"The brooding bad boy?"

The other boy left on the couch didn't move from the velvet cushions, and his heavy black bangs hid his eyes so Hinata couldn't even tell if he was looking at her. "Hn."

"Or, last but certainly in no wise least, would you prefer the princely type? By which, of course," the blond boy continued, leaning in breathlessly close as his fingers caressed Hinata's chin, "I mean me."

"I—I—th-that i-i-is, I—" Hinata could hear her voice start babbling but couldn't really control it. How did she get here? She couldn't quite remember. Her face felt like it was radiating enough heat for the whole room. "Wh-wh-wha—"

The blond boy's handsome face started to get blurry and then everything went blessedly, thankfully black.

…

Naruto blinked, staring confusedly at their newest visitor's supine body, his arms still where they had been about to wrap around her waist.

"Well, that's a first," Neji remarked calmly, not stirring at all.

"Gosh, do you think I overdid it?" Naruto said, wondering if this was the sort of situation in which one gave mouth-to-mouth.

"You overdo everything, idiot," Sasuke said dryly. "That's how this whole thing started."

"She did look a little flustered," Chouji said, coming over to kneel next to Hinata. "Do you think she's okay?"

"Make sure she is," Shikamaru ordered. "She might sue."

"Right!" Naruto said, rushing over to the kitchenette he'd had installed last week and filling a teacup with cold water.

"Don't just dump it on her!" Chouji reproved, snatching the teacup from him before he could do just that. Shikamaru and Sasuke walked over to observe and Neji followed since it was clear he'd look like a jerk if he didn't.

Not about to relinquish the privilege of reviving the damsel in distress, Naruto snatched the teacup back. Chouji retrived it. Naruto swiped it. The teacup went back and forth a few times before the others had had enough.

"Here, I'll do it, since the idiot is so incompetent," Sasuke said, grabbing for the cup.

"No!" Naruto pouted, holding the cup over his head. Chouji and Sasuke both tried to grab it.

"Since you can't decide, I'll do it," Shikamaru said firmly, grabbing Naruto's wrist instead of the cup and dragging his hand down to a more accessible level.

"No you won't!" Naruto shouted, jerking his hand away. The teacup didn't go with it, and the five club members stared in horror (Naruto), worry (Chouji), annoyance (Shikamaru), amusement (Sasuke) and disinterest (Neji).

They were so busy staring that none of them grabbed the cup before it spilled its entire contents on Hinata's face and hair, finally landing on her chest.

"Oooops," Naruto breathed.

"At least the cup didn't break," Shikamaru said. "Replacing it would have been troublesome."

"Oh well," Neji said blandly. "That's not how you revive someone who's fainted anyway."

…

Hinata blinked, wondering why she felt all wet until she noticed the cluster of boys staring down at her. She immediately started blushing again as the boys backed up to give her space.

"My deepest apologies," the blond boy said.

"Yes, apparently Naruto is a klutz as well as an idiot," said the dark-haired boy who had been described as 'brooding'.

"Naruto?"

"That would be me," said the blond. "We should have introductions all around, I suppose. I am Uzumaki Naruto, and Sasuke, Chouji, Neji, and Shikamaru."

Hinata smiled and nodded at the introductions for the sake of politeness, but wanted nothing more but to get out of there. Naruto picked up the teacup that had fallen on her chest (she wasn't really sure how it had gotten there, it must have happened while she was out) and helped her to her feet. The other boys returned to whatever they had been doing before Hinata arrived.

"Might I have the pleasure of your company, Hinata-san?" Naruto asked, bending close again.

Hinata backed up, taking a few deep breaths to avoid blacking out again. "N-no, thank you, Uzumaki-senpai, but I-I really must go and s-s-study…goodbye!"

She practically fled from the room, not waiting to hear if Naruto said anything more.

[A/N: I hope you think Hinata's characterization is okay. I was trying to make her shyness/possible medical issues realistic instead of gimmicky. It's the first time I've done her extensively, too, although I did do a one-shot with her a while back. There will be no appearances of Ouran characters unless I change my mind and decide to do a cameo.]


	2. Chapter 2

[A/N: No pairings settled yet, but expect triangles.]

Chapter 2:

The next morning, Hinata made sure her little student apartment was pristine before preparing to go to school. Pausing as she splashed water on her face, she stared at herself in the dingy bathroom mirror.

One of the boys from the Host Club—Neji, she remembered—had eyes that looked like hers. Of course, he hadn't known this; Hinata's contacts were sitting on the bathroom counter right now, waiting for her to put them on. Still, it had been strange. She had always assumed, from the way she got teased before she started wearing contacts in middle school, that her eyes were unique. They did tend to 'freak people out', as Kiba would say, but the other members of the Host Club hadn't seemed in any way disturbed by Neji.

Hinata was curious, but not curious enough to seek them out. The events of yesterday had been embarrassing enough that she wouldn't particularly mind if she never ran into any of the hosts again.

She had no such luck, unfortunately; She shared a history class with Shikamaru and an art class with Sasuke. Since Hinata usually sat towards the back of the classroom, she didn't think either of them noticed her, but she kept her head down all the same.

Today, the art class was going on a field trip to a nearby gallery. Hinata would have liked to sit in the back of the bus, as well, but it was mostly filled before she got there. She ended up sitting towards the front, and pulled the hood on her sweater up to show that she didn't want people to talk to her.

Just before the doors of the bus closed, the last student came running up and jumped in. Hinata wouldn't have taken notice of this except for the fact that the last unoccupied seat was the one next to her. As the boy sat down, Hinata scooted over a bit and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

She was a little surprised; she hadn't thought Sasuke would be the type of student to be late. Briefly, she debated whether it would draw more or less attention to herself if she said anything before settling on silence.

Luckily, the bus trip wasn't long. Hinata mostly looked out the window, although she occasionally found herself looking at Sasuke. He never looked towards her; he was sitting hunched over a bulky messenger bag, busily texting to someone on his smartphone.

The bag intrigued Hinata; it was sturdy leather and almost looked military, with lots of pockets and loops to hang things on. There were unusual lumps and bulges in the leather that made it clear that there was more than just schoolbooks inside. If Hinata had been a more outgoing person she might have asked about it, but she settled for looking. It must have been expensive, and she felt a little self-conscious of her worn denim bag and the obsolescent cell phone inside it.

When they arrived at the gallery, the students were mostly left to their own devices. All that was required was that they not destroy anything and leave the gallery with a brief report on at least one piece. Since she could get extra credit for doing more than one, Hinata intended to do three, even though she had 101% in the class already. Besides, it would keep her busy enough to have an excuse to get out of any conversations.

She had lost sight of Sasuke as soon as he got off the bus, and quickly distanced herself from the other students as well. The building was very old, and over the years had become a tangle of staircases and rooms of all shapes and sizes. Soon, Hinata realized that she had forgotten to find a map. She didn't really mind—she liked exploring, and the gallery was cool and quiet. Besides her class, the gallery was not crowded today, and by the time she arrived at the third story, there was no one around at all.

Hinata was in a small, traditionally-appointed room looking at some serenely elegant Ukiyo-e woodprints when she heard footprints coming in her direction from the corridor. Since she didn't much feel like running into anyone from her class right now, she stepped into a shadowy corner and waited for whoever it was to pass. It was just one person, fortunately; one of the many reasons Hinata had gotten away from the group so quickly was to avoid the distracting groups of chatty girls.

It wasn't anyone from her class, but it was someone she recognized: Neji, from the Host Club. Hinata blushed a little as she remembered the events of yesterday. This was strange, though. Neji wasn't in her class, or even her year; why would he be at the gallery at the same time as her field trip? There had been only one bus from Konoha High in the parking lot, so he couldn't have come for school.

Neji paused near the center of the room and looked around, and Hinata kept as still as possible as he glanced at her corner. Somehow she had a feeling things would become very uncomfortable if Neji discovered she was here.

Finally satisfied with his inspection, Neji started to head towards the next room before hesitating and taking a cell phone out of a pocket in his designer jacket. It must have been vibrating, as Hinata hadn't heard anything.

"This had better be important, Naruto," he said quietly, sounding annoyed as he tucked his hair back out of the way of the phone. Hinata hoped he would walk away and carry on the conversation somewhere else, but there was no such luck. "I can't be on the phone long, someone might hear…no, I haven't met up with Sasuke yet; I presume he's still trying to shed his fangirls."

Hinata frowned at the mention of Sasuke. Clearly Neji's presence had something to do with the art class field trip, but it seemed like something he was trying to keep secret. And from the way he was talking, it sounded like Naruto—Hinata could feel herself blushing again—was here as well.

"You are in place, I hope?" Neji continued, with a slight edge of scorn to his voice that made it clear he thought his hope vain. "Oh, you are? Well, well."

That was, apparently, the end of the conversation, at least as far as Neji was concerned. Pressing a few buttons, he put the phone back into the pocket he had taken it from and continued into the next room.

Suddenly coming to a decision, Hinata stepped quietly out of her corner and trailed after him. She was grateful that she was just wearing a pair of simple sneakers, rather than the noisy platform heels some of the more fashionable girls wore, else he would have known she was behind him right away. When Hinata had been little, she had been the best hide-and-go-seek 'hider' in her neighborhood, and she put all those skills to use now.

She kept far enough behind Neji that he wouldn't detect her, but just close enough to keep him in sight. He seemed to have a definite destination, even though she couldn't tell where he was going.

Neji finally stopped in the corridor, and Hinata ducked into a room full of watercolors as he glanced around before entering another room. Waiting a few seconds, she approached the room and peeked inside. Luckily, Neji wasn't looking in her direction; it would all have been over if he had. Slipping inside, Hinata crouched down in the darkest area of the room, almost behind the open door. The door wouldn't be closed until the gallery shut down for the night, so no one would have any reason to go over there and find her.

The room was full of small pedestals with glass-covered cases on them. From her low vantage point, Hinata had trouble figuring out what was being displayed—it seemed to be books. If she hadn't been following Neji, Hinata would have loved to examine them for her report; she enjoyed reading, old books especially. Perhaps when this silly escapade was over she could have a look at them.

More footsteps came from the hall, and Hinata ducked down further into the shadows as two more people entered the room.

"Shikamaru's got everything set up," Naruto announced quietly, a far cry from his bouncy exuberance of yesterday. "Is it ready here?"

Neji nodded. "It's this one," he said, walking over to one of the pedestals closest to Hinata.

"Great!" Naruto said, a little too loudly from the way Neji glared at him. "Sasuke, have you got the stuff?"

Suddenly, Hinata was pretty sure she knew what they were up to. She felt like running away, but all three of them would see her before she could get to the door, and she was certain they could run faster than she could. She should probably just wait until they finished and then tell the police or something, but who would believe a nobody over three of the top students in the school.

No, she had to have proof, Hinata decided, and quietly reached into her bag for her cell phone as Sasuke began to affix what looked like seals to the glass case. Hinata couldn't really see what he did with them, because Naruto walked across her field of vision at that point. Then Neji picked up the book, and two things happened at once: a shrill alarm began to blare, and the flash from Hinata's camera phone illuminated the entire group.

For a few seconds, they all stared at each other; the boys surprised to have been discovered, and Hinata in shock at having been so stupid as to not turn the flash off first.

Once Hinata had recovered enough to move, she bolted for the open door of the book room, but her legs were half-asleep and unresponsive from being in a kneeling position for so long. Naruto only had to run a few steps to catch hold of her arm and pull her back into the room.

"Hinata-san," he said suavely, as if asking her to dance with him rather than trying to prevent her from tipping off the authorities. "What on earth are you doing here, my dear?"

"I-I-I don't k-know…" Hinata stammered. The noise of the alarm was making it hard for her to think straight.

"Naruto, you're getting ahead of things," Neji snapped.

"Oh! Um, right. Which way does Shikamaru want us to go, Sasuke?"

Sasuke consulted his smartphone for a moment before pointing towards the far door of the rare book room. "That way," he said quickly. "Here, Neji, put that in here," he added, holding his bag open so Neji could put the book inside.

Hinata tried to pull away from Naruto's grasp, but he refused to let go and she found herself being pulled along with the others. They were apparently being guided from outside, for Sasuke kept giving them directions from his smartphone. This got them safely to an elevator without running into any guards, much to Hinata's surprise.

As the elevator doors closed, Naruto let go of Hinata, who backed up against the far wall of the elevator car and clutched her bag in front of her.

"This _is_ an interesting development," Neji remarked. He sounded less interested in Hinata's situation than the trouble this would cause his own group.

"Yes, whatever will we do with you?" Naruto began, taking a step closer. Hinata could immediately feel her cheeks begin to flame again.

Sasuke kicked Naruto in the leg and watched in some amusement as hopped away and leaned against the wall of the elevator for support. "_Not_ the time."

"Okay, okay, meanie! You don't have to be so brutal about it."

Ignoring Naruto's complaint, Sasuke stepped past him to confront Hinata. "The cell phone, please," he said calmly, holding out his hand.

Hinata took a deep breath. "N-no," she replied, as firmly as she could.

Sasuke leaned in, putting one arm against the wall of the car so that Hinata was mostly hemmed in. "The cell phone. Hand it over."

Hinata gulped but shook her head, not trusting her voice this time. Sasuke looked like he was about to grab for her bag, but before he could the elevator settled into place and the doors opened with a gentle chime.

"We'll leave you here, Sasuke," Neji said as they exited the elevator. "Keep an eye on her; we can settle this back at school."

"Good luck!" Naruto said cheerfully before he and Neji vanished around a corner.

Sasuke kept a firm grip on Hinata's arm as they rejoined the class group, which was now bunched up in the lobby. The alarm was still going and there were a few security guards around the perimeter. Hinata began to feel even more nervous even though Sasuke seemed perfectly at ease. The teacher looked very pleased to see them. "Oh, thank goodness, there you are!" she exclaimed. "I was getting worried."

"Fujioka-san and I ran into each other right before the alarm went off, so we decided to come down together," Sasuke said calmly. Hinata wanted to say something, but her head was starting to feel funny again, and she knew she had to be careful or she might faint again.

She wasn't exactly sure how the next few minutes went; the next thing she knew she was back on the bus and staring out of the window at the parking lot. Sasuke was sitting next to her, and between them was the leather messenger bag with the stolen book inside it.


	3. Chapter 3

[A/N: I'm kind of having fun with the characterizations here, although Neji is giving me some difficulties. I do like Sasuke as the glued-to-his-phone type, though. Also, since this is a High School AU, everybody's 16 here, except for Neji who is 17.]

Chapter 3:

"Well," Shikamaru said coolly, "that could have gone a good deal better."

"Hey, at least no one was hurt," Chouji pointed out.

"Yes, but now we have a witness, and not only that, but she has a picture!" Shikamaru paced up and down in front of the couch before sitting down heavily. "This is going to seriously hurt the fees we can ask for," he muttered in annoyance. "It's such a pain."

_This is Hinata we're talking about._ Sasuke's chat message appeared on the screen of Neji's computer. He was currently keeping an eye on the subject of the discussion, but was still able to participate using his smartphone. _Remember what she was like yesterday? It's not like she's going to run screaming to the police. Besides, now that we've handed the merchandise off there's nothing to support the photo._

"Except for Hinata herself," Neji pointed out. "Have you gotten the cell phone away from her yet?"

_Not yet, since the **idiot** said I couldn't make her give it to me._

"Hey, I resent that!" Naruto complained, coming in and leaning over the back of the couch just in time to see Sasuke's message. "I just don't want her to get hurt. Geez, I'm in charge of this outfit, you'd think I'd get a little respect."

_Yes, you would._

"Nice to see you agreeing with—hey!"

_What should I do when class is over? Make it quick, I've had my phone out too long as it is._

"What, afraid someone's going to confiscate your lifeline? I remember you nearly threw yourself off the roof of the school that one time when the battery died and you couldn't get a new one for three days."

_Exaggerating as usual. Will someone **besides** Naruto tell me what to do?_

Shikamaru sighed. "Bring her up here and we'll see if we can't come to some arrangement."

_Got it._

A moment later, Sasuke signed out and Neji closed the chat window before setting his computer on a side table by the couch. "Shikamaru, you're not seriously thinking of telling her anything, are you?" he demanded. "And for that matter, why didn't you know she was there? You were the one on the cameras."

"What about you, Neji?" Naruto cut in. "You were supposed to check the room before we got there, how come you didn't see her, huh?"

Neji frowned a little, annoyed at the aspersion cast on his abilities. "I did check the room," he said a bit defensively. "It seems that Hinata is quite stealthy, for a civilian."

"Yes, but you're _not_ a civilian," Naruto said pointedly.

"Now, now, let's not fight…" Chouji interceded before Neji could retort. The older boy settled for a glare before stalking away.

…

Hinata looked up from her math textbook and glanced nervously at Sasuke for what must have been the hundredth time since they had gotten back from the field trip. At some point, he must have gotten rid of the book or handed it over to someone, since his leather messenger bag looked much lighter now, and if that was so then the only evidence that the Host Club had been involved with the theft was the photo on Hinata's cell phone.

Sasuke hadn't let her get more than a few feet away from him since they had exited the elevator. Hinata had tried to get someone's attention several times, but either they didn't notice her or Sasuke managed to put them off. When they returned to school and got to the math classroom, he sat down next to her in the back, earning her several jealous glares from other girls in the room. Sasuke was quite the school heartthrob, it seemed, but Hinata would have preferred to be miles away from him.

It was almost the end of the math class, and with it the school day. Hinata thought about trying to get out of the classroom before Sasuke and lose him in the crowd, but he was sitting between her and the aisle. Thankfully, he wasn't looking in her direction at the moment, instead fixated on his smartphone yet again.

Sighing a little, she studied Sasuke's face as best she could, trying to figure out what she could expect from him. His bangs still shadowed most of his face, so she could only really tell that he was quite pale and probably good-looking, although the only one of his features she could really see was his mouth (which was, at the moment, smirking in what would have been quite a swoon-worthy manner had she been one of his fangirls). While she had gotten a bit of a better look at him in the elevator, she had been too stressed then to remember much, although she recalled that he had coal black eyes.

She considered trying to text the photo to someone, but not only did she have no idea who she should send it to, she was certain that Sasuke would snatch the phone away as soon as she took it out. Honestly, she was a little surprised that he hadn't tried to take her bag away and get the phone himself yet, but perhaps he didn't want to do that with so many people around.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the teacher was assigning homework and then the students were leaving. Hinata hadn't followed much of the lesson, but she was pretty sure she could figure out what she was supposed to be doing from the textbook.

Picking up her bag, she stood up, hoping Sasuke would let her pass. He didn't.

"Um," Hinata began tentatively, "C-class is over, and I need t-to go…"

By this point, almost all of the other students were gone, but Sasuke didn't move until the teacher left the room. Then he stood gracefully, slinging his messenger bag over one shoulder, and took her by the arm. "Okay then, let's go," he said curtly. "The Host Club wants to talk to you."

They really weren't taking any chances, were they? Hinata had no choice but to follow Sasuke as he led her through the halls and up the stairs to the deserted corridor where she had first discovered the Host Club the day before. Pushing the door of the third music room open, Sasuke ushered Hinata inside before entering himself.

"Hinata-san!" Naruto greeted her, appearing almost instantly and once again getting far too close. "How are you, my dear?"

Once again he was acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "I d-don't k-know…" What was she supposed to say?

Hinata was much relieved when Sasuke pushed Naruto out of the way and led her over to a small table. "Wait here," he said, pulling out one of the elegant cast-iron chairs for her to sit down in. That done, he walked away and Hinata watched as he went over to the rest of the Host Club, which was gathered around another table in the far corner of the room. She couldn't hear their discussion, but it sounded heated and she shivered a little in spite of herself. What had she gotten into now?

…...

"So, we have her here," Sasuke said. "What now?"

Shikamaru frowned, steepling his fingers in the position he usually used when he was thinking hard. "Clearly, we must keep her under our watch until we can either get her to delete the photo or otherwise rule her out as a threat."

"And how are we to do that, pray tell?" Neji asked.

"Look, Hinata's nice," Naruto cut in. "I'm sure if we just explain things she'll get rid of it."

Sasuke shook his head. "Considering that we weren't able to intimidate her into deleting it so far, I doubt she'll give up so easily."

"It's not like we can just take it from her, though," Naruto persisted. "I mean, she's a girl!"

Sasuke coughed into his hand. "_Sakura._"

"A _civilian_ girl," Naruto clarified, glaring at the miscreant who dared to call himself a best friend. Admittedly though, Naruto had been the one to say it first.

"I have an idea," Shikamaru announced before Naruto and Sasuke could come to blows.

"What is it?" Chouji asked.

The others listened peaceably until Shikamaru finished speaking. Then things got interesting.

"No!" Neji snapped. "I absolutely forbid it."

Naruto looked at him with upraised eyebrows. "Why Neji-senpai, I didn't think you cared."

"I don't," Neji replied. "That's why I think this is a bad idea. We have no reason to get her involved in this. Just get the photo away from her, and get her away from us."

"I agree," Chouji said, surprising everyone as he rarely disagreed with Shikamaru on anything. "We shouldn't drag her further in than we have to."

"True, but do you think after having seen all this that she will just leave us alone, whether or not we get our hands on the photo? She may be a timid girl, but she is most determined. We really have few other options at this point. Your dissent is noted, however."

"Dissent?" Neji stood so suddenly that his chair toppled over with a thud on the tiled floor. Hinata started from across the room, and Neji lowered his voice slightly before continuing. "It's a lot more than just dissent," he hissed. "Look, once someone gets into this business they can't get out again. My uncle and his family tried that, and look what happened to them—all dead! And Sasuke's family, too…we shouldn't do that to someone just to protect ourselves," he finished morosely, righting his chair and sitting back down, resting his chin in his hand to stare moodily out the window at the clouds. "Let her make her own destiny, we have no right to force ours on her."

Naruto was staring at him in awe. "Wow, Neji-sempai, you should talk more, that was awesome—ow! Sasuke, stop kicking me!"

Sasuke gave him a _shut up_ glare before speaking himself. "You have a point, Neji, but we won't be the only ones in danger if that photo goes public. Even if we use Shikamaru's plan, we'll tell her as little as possible, and I'm sure we're good enough to manage it without putting her in any unnecessary risk."

The look on Neji's face made it clear that he thought any risk 'unnecessary', but he made no further disagreement.

"Right then," Naruto said, "Are we settled on this?"

There were nods all around the table, some a little more hesitant than others.

"Great! Then let's go induct our new member!"

[A/N: Ooo, backstory! LOL. Kind of playing this by ear, although I do have some semblance of an outline. I'm liking the way it's going so far, though.]


	4. Chapter 4

[A/N: Finally found some official model sheets for Naruto characters, so I'm going to start drawing some pictures to go with my AUs. This one should be fun! BTW, Mixi is like Japanese Facebook.]

Chapter 4:

Hinata looked up nervously as the boys approached her table. "W-what do you want?" she asked. It came out as barely a whisper, to her embarrassment. She continued speaking a little louder and more forcefully although she still had trouble getting the words out properly. "I-it won't do you any good even if you delete th-the photo, I-I already put in o-o-on Mixi."

Sasuke scoffed, snatching the denim bag from Hinata's grasp before she could react enough to tighten her hold on it. "With _this_ thing?" he laughed, rummaging around in the bag until he came up with the phone.

Hinata blushed, thinking of the silly stickers and charms all over it. Kiba and Shino had kept giving the charms to her, and she hadn't wanted to hurt their feelings by not putting them on. At this rate, the charms would probably outweigh the phone by next Christmas.

"Come on, it can't even access the web," Sasuke continued, flipping it open and briefly glancing over the faded numbers on the worn buttons. "Where did you get this, an antique store?"

"M-my father bought it for me," Hinata replied, looking at her shoes in embarrassment and nervously tapping her index fingers together. "Um, could you p-please give it back…please?"

"Just a second, I haven't got the photo off yet—Naruto, what are you doing?"

Hinata's cell phone was quietly dropped back into her lap, and she looked up to meet Naruto's bright blue eyes. "What—?"

"I couldn't let him hurt your precious thing," Naruto said, leaning on the arm of her chair. "Anyway, we didn't come over to make you get rid of the photo. You'd probably still follow us around anyway, wouldn't you?"

Not wanting to admit that yes, she certainly would, Hinata settled for a shrug. Besides, she was having trouble putting words together by this point with all five boys crowded around her again.

"Soooo," Naruto continued in an amiable drawl (Hinata still couldn't picture him as a thief, it was completely incompatible with his slightly vacuous friendliness), "We've decided that we're going to keep tabs on you, instead."

"_They_ decided," Neji interjected icily. Hinata noticed that he was rather pointedly refusing to look at any of the others.

"Oh, come off it, Neji!" Naruto pouted. "This'll be fun."

"Um, w-w-what will be fun?" Hinata cut in, just wanting to know what they were going to do to her and then get away.

"You're going to join the Host Club!" Naruto announced, throwing his arms around her.

Hinata fainted.

…

"Owww…" Naruto mumbled as Sasuke helped him to his feet. Hinata had pulled him with her when she fell off the chair, resulting in his hitting his head on the edge of the seat. "Are you okay, Hinata-san?" he asked the unresponsive figure on the floor. "Hinata-san?" She still didn't reply, so he poked tentatively at her shoulder with no results. "You know, I'm kind of getting the feeling this happens a lot."

"No really, the fact that this exact thing happened the last time she was in here with you didn't tip you off to that?" Sasuke asked. Naruto decided it was probably one of those 'rhetorical question' things and didn't reply.

"Shikamaru," he called over to the Host Club's manager, who was now over with Chouji discussing alterations to the boy's uniform they had acquired. "Do you think I should take her to the nurse's office? She did that passing-out thing again."

Before Shikamaru could reply, Neji swept over and picked up Hinata. "I think I shall take her to the nurse's office," he said firmly. "Clearly you are a bad influence on her."

"But—" Naruto pouted.

"Just leave it, Naruto," Sasuke said, grabbing Naruto by the back of his jacket and pulling him back as the door closed behind Neji. "If Neji wants to get out of our hair for a while, by all means let him."

Naruto let out an aggrieved sigh. "Well, if you say so…"

…

When Hinata opened her eyes she found herself staring at a plain white tiled ceiling, which was a far cry from the elaborate paintings and chandeliers that decorated the ceiling of the Host Club's room. It was actually quite familiar; Hinata had become almost immediately accustomed to the nurse's offices of every school she had ever been to. Hoping to find herself alone, she sat up and turned to meet the cool pale eyes of Neji. "Oh!" she gasped, starting a little bit, and Neji quickly took a step back.

"I apologize for startling you," he said quietly, pushing his long hair back behind his shoulders. "Are you ill? This has happened more than once…"

Hinata hesitated. She thought it might be polite to explain since her issues had clearly caused some inconvenience, but on the other hand she was not feeling terribly kindly towards the Host Club at the moment. "It's nothing," she said, turning away.

"I see," Neji said, in a tone that meant he did not see at all because he hadn't believed it for a moment. "In any case, as the nurse is gone at the moment, I will stay here until you feel well enough to leave."

"I f-feel okay now—" Hinata began hopefully, but Neji would have none of that.

"You are clearly unwell," he said firmly. "Lie down."

Hinata obediently did so, and Neji sat down in the simple rotating chair that the nurse used. He looked rather out of place in the white, businesslike room, with his long, glossy hair and his fancy clothes. _Is he related to someone famous?_ Hinata wondered. A lot of the students at Konoha High were the children of the rich and powerful.

She tried to think of whether she knew Neji's last name, but realized she didn't. With Neji staring at her Hinata didn't really feel drowsy, so she tried to make conversation. "Um, N-neji-sempai, why do you go to this school?"

Neji shrugged blandly. His jacket shifted a little as he did so, and Hinata gasped as she glimpsed metal glinting against the blue silk lining. Neji looked up sharply, and Hinata ducked as she felt his eyes seemingly bore right through her. "Are you all right?" he asked, rising and walking over to the bed.

Hinata nodded tentatively, staring at his jacket. It had fallen further open as Neji stood and Hinata could now clearly see the thin hilts of several knives, and points pricking through the lining near the hem. "I—I'm fine," she forced out, not wanting to make him suspicious—at least he didn't seem to have guessed the real reason for her distress. What had she gotten herself into? And why, oh why couldn't she have just stayed in the library to study, instead of prowling around the music rooms?

Neji raised an eyebrow but didn't contest her statement. Glancing at the clock, he began to button his jacket. "The campus will be closing soon," he said. "I will escort you home; do you have everything you need?"

Hinata looked quickly around the room. "My book bag," she said, starting to feel panicky. "My book bag—I must have left it in the music room when I f-fainted." They might have already taken the cell phone, and Sasuke would never give it back, she was sure. What would her parents say if she had to tell them she had lost it?

"We can go back to get it," Neji said. "Should I help you up?"

"N-no, that's fine," Hinata said quickly. She didn't want to deal with being too close to one of the Host Club members again for a while. "You don't have to be so worried about me…" she continued as she straightened out her clothes, aware once again of the contrast between herself and Neji. His shoes alone were probably worth about as much as her scholarship, while she was wearing second-hand jeans (boy's jeans, no less) and a sweater that had been on clearance at Uniqlo. Not to mention the fact that his hair was way nicer than hers and nearly three times as long. Hinata had tried to grow her hair out a few times, but it was very fine and tangled easily, so she had always given up and chopped it off again.

Neji paused at the door, turning to look her over—this only served to make Hinata even more self-conscious. Blushing, she looked away, pretending to be interested in one of the 'Healthy Eating' posters on the wall.

"You should do well enough in that, I suppose," Neji said finally. "You don't know anyone here very well, do you?"

Hinata shook her head. She barely even talked to anyone, and while Kiba and Shino were somewhere in the school she had yet to run into them. "Why d-do you ask?"

"If you are going to join the Host Club, as everyone else seems to have decided," Neji began to explain, "It stands to reason that you will have to disguise yourself as a boy. Here, watch out!" he finished quickly, stepping forward to grab Hinata's arm as she wavered where she stood.

_Well, at least my life isn't boring now…_Hinata thought as she tried to take all this in. She didn't much like the idea, but at least the Host Club only wanted to keep tabs on her, instead of anything worse. "You don't have to make s-such a fuss over me," she said, gently pulling her arm out of Neji's grip.

Neji frowned as he opened the door of the nurse's office. "I know you believe yourself capable of looking after your own interests," he replied, "but someone on the Host Club must think about your welfare, and I seem to be the only one inclined to do so. I never wanted you involved in this in the first place, so the least I can do is make sure you get out in one piece."

Neji remained silent after that, and Hinata didn't want to initiate another conversation, so nothing more was said until they arrived at the door of the third music room. Neji pushed the door open and ushered Hinata in ahead of him.

Hinata had been expecting just the other four members of the Host Club to be present, and therefore stopped in surprise when she saw that there were other people in the room. Naruto was sitting at a table among a bevy of giggly girls, pouring tea for them and occasionally leaning in to whisper flirtatiously. Sasuke was slumped on a small settee off to one side, looking either bored or annoyed—his bangs hid his face so that Hinata couldn't really distinguish his expression. They probably came to about the same, anyway. The bouncy bubblegum pop coming over the speakers probably wasn't his thing.

A tall blond girl was nestled on the couch between Shikamaru and Chouji, sharing chocolates from a large box on her lap. Shikamaru glanced up and waved (if it could really be called that, he basically just twitched a couple fingers) when he noticed Neji's entrance.

Neji nodded back, then quickly ducked to the side, pulling Hinata out of the way as what looked like several long needles flew through the air toward them. Moving almost faster than Hinata could see, Neji snatched several of them out of the air, but the last passed close enough to Hinata to shift her hair slightly before hitting the wall, leaving a smudge of chocolate behind.

"Wha…w-wha?" Hinata stammered before chiding herself mentally for sounding so stupid. "What was _that_?" she gasped once she could put a coherent sentence together.

Neji sighed a little. "Pocky, Tenten, really?"

One of the large potted plants rustled slightly, then a brown-haired girl stepped from behind it. "They shouldn't be shaped like that if they weren't made for throwing!" she protested, returning another handful of Pocky to the box she was holding in her other hand as she approached. "But it would be a crime to waste perfectly good Pocky, so we might as well—"

Neji pushed her away gently. "I'm a little too busy for the Pocky Game right now."

Tenten pouted, then perked up when she caught sight of Hinata. "Oh, who's this?" she asked.

"This is Fujioka Hinata," Neji said, "the new member of the Host Club. Hinata, this is Huang Tenten. If you two will excuse me for a moment, I need to find something that was left here by accident."

With this, Neji left, leaving Hinata to figure out how on earth she was supposed to convince the Pocky Assassin she was a Host. "Um, hi?" she tried, attempting to sound masculine.

"Hi!" Tenten chirped. "I don't think I've seen you before, have you been here long?"

"I started at Konoha Highschool this semester," Hinata replied.

"Oh, okay, we must be in different years then. So, have you done much?"

Hinata frowned as she tried to make sense of the question. "No, not before I started school here—I just helped my family with their work a little."

"Don't worry, it's easy to pick up," Tenten said, confusing Hinata yet more. "You just need the right mindset. Pocky?"

[A/N: The Pocky Game is where two people put either end of a stick of Pocky in their mouths and start nibbling down on it, with the objective being to get as close as possible without actually kissing. As I recall, anyway, the last time I encountered it was in a manhwa I read a long time ago. Also, Hinata is actually a unisex name in Japan, hence Tenten's quick assumption that if Hinata is a Host she must be a boy.]


End file.
